It’s a brand new year and we’re looking at simple yet powerful ways to create good financial health. Yesterday we explored how easy it is to begin an automatic savings plan. Today, in part two of our series, let’s take a closer look at what so many of us fear – debt.
Is it always your foe, or could debt actually be your friend?
Debt can actually be a blessing in disguise.
To see the gifts, first, we have to forgive ourselves for the choices we made in the past.
Making peace with your financial situation allows you to move forward and invite in solutions rather than staying stuck in the endless loop of should have, would have, could have…
If you are struggling with this, ask yourself: was it all bad? Likely you received things or experiences that you valued, and these shaped you into who you are today. Feel into your gratitude for a few moments.
Even if you can’t find anything positive, all of your decisions brought you to this moment today. And you can begin anew now.
So how can we see debt as a gift?
Debt can function as the training wheels to develop one of the most important habits that build wealth: automatically investing in yourself first. Sound familiar from yesterday?! The difference is investing is like savings on steroids. And it’s what all wealthy people do.
First you need to muster up the courage to face your situation. Ignoring your debt won’t make the problem go away. In fact, it’s a sure-fire way to create more of it, because of compounding interest.
Write out a list of each of your debts, including the interest rates and amounts owing. Look at your take-home pay and expenses, and honestly see how much you can contribute towards monthly repayment.
I recommend easy-to-use online debt calculators to work out the numbers for you. They can help you prioritize higher interest debts first so you pay significantly less interest overall. Once one debt is paid off, roll that payment into the next debt, and so on, until they’re all gone.
What you’ll often find is the amount of time you think it would take to become debt-free is actually far less in reality.
Committing to a debt elimination plan is a life-changing decision for 3 reasons.
1. It gives you peace of mind and confidence knowing exactly when your debt will be paid off!
2. By making debt a mandatory payment each month, it energetically says to the Universe I need money to pay for this expense. It becomes a serious requirement much like rent, food, or transportation. And when you commit to making it so, the Universe will respond in turn, ensuring you receive your financial resources. This may require more faith than you are used to, but I promise you this is how it works.
3. Lastly, once the debt is all gone, you will have automatically created the habit of making a sizeable monthly payment that you can now redirect to investing!
Yes – instead of spending that money (which you’ve already proven to yourself that you didn’t need) you can use it for investing to create wealth.
Ideally, along the way you will also be learning how to do this, and now you will have the funds to take action!
With excellent wealth-building habits in place now you are ready to invest successfully and produce completely different financial results.
You will be able to skyrocket your wealth in just several years because you will no longer have to pay down debt, and you will have shifted your energy from avoidance to taking ownership of your money.
This is the power of debt.
Did this help change your mindset about debt? I’d love to hear what comes up for you. Please share what’s on your heart in the comments below.